Philosophy of Learning
Broken down into its Greek roots, the word “philosophy” directly translates into a love of wisdom. Portage Learning and NursingABC manifested out of our founder, Dr. Ken Hartman’s, desire to help students achieve their goal of furthering their education. Dr. Hartman truly believes that God’s purpose for him is to help others through education.
Interactions with students, course content, and our relationships with referring schools have all been carefully shaped by Dr. Hartman’s philosophy of learning. Indeed, Dr. Hartman has amassed faculty and staff from a variety of disciplines who are commonly recognized as leaders in their respective fields, and who share the same tenets of education as Dr. Hartman including quality, service, community, and integrity.
Dr. Hartman’s philosophy of learning serves as the very foundation for Portage Learning and NursingABC’s existence and is an integral part of not only corporate culture, but also academic structure. The philosophy is readily available on the websites and communicated both internally and to external stakeholders including students and referring institutions.
Portage Learning and NursingABC Philosophy of Learning
Portage Learning provides quality academic preparation to students who cannot easily obtain the appropriate instruction from a traditional institution. The aim of our high school, college, and specialty programs is to build sound academic fundamentals that will increase students' confidence in their areas of deficiency, with the outcome of enabling students to advance their educational achievement and respective career goals.
Nature of the Learner
Portage Learning serves a diverse population of students who need particular academic courses and skills in order to continue their progress toward educational or career goals. Most of these students are current or prospective applicants to nursing programs who need prerequisite classes or remediation to meet admission requirements. We recognize that many of these students, though motivated, lack confidence in their ability to handle the required subject matter. Many are non-traditional students who are returning to the work force, currently are working another full-time job, have been removed from the academic arena for an extended time, and/or are uncomfortable taking the necessary courses in a traditional environment. Recognizing the unique pressures and commitments of our students' lifestyles, Portage Learning offers a delivery method that fits those students' schedules and makes more achievable their academic goals.
Nature of Learning Processes
Portage Learning offers a systematic academic program based on a foundation of excellent, understandable content, which is administered in a self-paced online or correspondence study format. This delivery method allows students the flexibility of beginning courses in a time frame that meets their needs, as well as completing those courses at a pace that meshes with the confines of their diverse schedules -- including the option of accelerated learning, if a student so desires. Portage Learning offers readily-available assistance in the form of personal, individualized, patient tutoring -- in order to help even the least experienced students realize and attain a level of confident success.
Nature of Relationships
Portage Learning commits to respecting students and their goals; our administration and instructors care that our students learn the material well and achieve success. Because our goals are service-oriented in nature, we maintain an "open-door" policy between students and instructors. Students are free to contact their instructors via student dashboard messaging system to request and receive assistance related to their course of study. Instructors are diligent to maintain rapport with students through prompt, pleasant service that helps to build students' confidence and ensure their comfort in asking for further assistance, when necessary.
Relationships between Portage Learning faculty and staff members are critical to our mission, as these individuals are the backbone of the program's success. Staff members strive to maintain healthy and friendly personal relationships that foster enthusiasm for the common goal of educating students in a quality fashion. Portage Learning strives to generate a contented working environment by communicating that each staff member is essential to the successful operation of the program -- through timely staff news, updates, and frequent requests for staff input regarding program mission, goals, and current and future objectives.
Because Portage Learning desires to positively impact the field of nursing through the training of students, we place a high priority on our relationship with participating schools and organizations. In an effort to serve these institutions, Portage Learning surveys the individual and collective needs of their programs and responds to those needs via improvements and additions to our curriculum, as well as the development of instructional tools and services which are made available for the nursing schools' use. This close partnership allows us to assist these schools in recognizing and addressing the distinct needs of their applicants and future students in continuously improving ways.
Within the field of healthcare (which the vast majority of our students pursue), progress can be both frequent and rapid. Dr. Hartman, myself, and the entire Portage team, are committed to continual improvement on behalf of students and referring schools. As a result, our Philosophy of Learning, while rooted in basic principles, parallels our evolution in such a way that we continue to grow along with our students.
Steve Michalik, Vice-President
Portage Learning and NursingABC
